Can Heads Up Displays Prevent Distracted Driving?
Trying to navigate while driving is an inexact science, no matter which tools you use. Anyone below the age of 30 would probably panic if they saw someone trying to read a road atlas while driving. The pages are so unwieldy and the print is so tiny that even having a front passenger unfolding one of those things probably counts as distracted driving. Even if you don’t get carsick, looking at one of those in a moving car is nerve-wracking. Those windshield-mounted GPS devices where a lady with a pleasant voice and a British accent gives you verbal instructions are great until they fall off of the windshield just as you get to the most confusing part of your route. Phones with navigation apps are too full of other distracting temptations, and the navigation features on your car’s console require you to look down, so what is the solution? Heads up devices have their partisans, but their critics consider them just another distraction. If you have been injured in a distracted driving accident, contact a Jacksonville car accident lawyer.
Are Heads Up Displays as Safe as They Claim to Be?
Looking at a map on the console in your car requires you to look down. In the rare event that you still have one of those windshield-mounted GPS devices with which the youngest millennials learned to drive, you have to look up to see it. If you are reading a navigation app mounted right next to your steering wheel, you have to look to the side. Enter the heads-up display (HUD). Some HUDs take the form of a small monitor placed where you can see it without taking your eyes off of the road. The device interacts wirelessly with your cell phone, so it displays the same information that is on your phone’s navigation app, just in a more convenient location. Instead of a monitor, some HUDs display information directly onto your car’s windshield. You can buy a HUD to install in your car, and in some models of car, you can add it to the car as an upgrade. In either case, it costs several hundred dollars.
According to Andrew Collins of Jalopnik, HUDs do more harm than good. The information they display, such as the speed limit and the weather conditions, is easily visible from looking at the horizon ahead of you or at road signs positioned such that passing motorists have been noticing them for decades. In his opinion, the fewer screens there are in your car, the better, and HUDs are just another distraction. The best way to avoid distractions is just to keep your eyes on the road.
Contact Douglas & Douglas About Car Accident Cases
HUDs are not the only possible cause of distracted driving, and distracted driving is always dangerous. A car accident lawyer can help you recover damages if you suffered a serious injury in a distracted driving accident. Contact Douglas & Douglas in Jacksonville, Florida for a free consultation.
Source:
jalopnik.com/heres-why-heads-up-displays-are-bad-1825934240
